Beat the Odds
by fanwriter1245
Summary: Erin Avery is in love with Sam, but he loves Laura. When she is picked to attend the decathlon as an alternate, she uses the opportunity to try to win over Sam. But there may be another guy who is trying to win her heart, and when the storm hits, they all must stick together, for the real test is all about survival. J.D.xOC
1. Erin's Crush

**This started out good, but as it went on, I kind of lost interest. I finished it anyway because I can't stand to have an unfinished story on my hands. It's like my ultimate pet peeve. And since this doesn't have a huge fanbase, I'm uploading it. It has its moments :)**

* * *

><p>Erin was in love. She had been for quite a while. There was just one problem. The guy she loved was in love with someone else. It was like her favorite musical, <em>The Phantom of the Opera.<em> She was "the Phantom", he was "Christine" and the other girl was "Raoul". Or it was like her other favorite musical, _Les Misérables._ She was Eponine, he was Marius, and the other girl was Cosette. At least she could now sympathize with Erik and Eponine more than she used to be able to.

Sam Hall was perfect in her mind. She had met him once when she had completely spilled all of her food at lunch on herself. Humiliated, she had run away to the bathroom to have a good cry and clean herself off. When she came out, eyes red and puffy, Sam was standing there outside the door, holding a shirt out for her. It was obvious that it was a guy shirt, but at that moment, she didn't care. Without a word, she smiled and went to go change. After that, the two of them talked and Erin found herself falling for him more and more. When she was about to ask him out on a date, he had revealed that he had feelings for Laura Chapman.

Erin was heartbroken but did a good job of hiding it. Sam had no idea that she had feelings for him, and she wasn't about to tell him now.

The thing was, she couldn't hate Laura if she tried. Laura was the sweetest girl Erin had ever met. They were on the academic team together, and Laura was always getting together with her so they could study for upcoming competitions. She was really smart, but she was also humble about it all. She could see why Sam fell for her.

Sam ended up joining the academic team, but everyone knew he was really joining it so he could get close to Laura.

The academic decathlon was approaching fast, and the advisor of the club needed to choose three people to go to New York City to participate. Erin knew that Sam and Brian were shoe-ins, so she hoped to get a good score in order to be able to go with them. Perhaps if she was alone with Sam, they could spend time together and he would start to have feelings for her.

People from the club piled into the small classroom and each was given an answer sheet. The test was timed and everyone had ten minutes to answer all the questions. The three with the most correct answers would go to New York City.

"Good luck," Laura whispered to Erin.

"You too," Erin whispered back.

The countdown started and the race was on.

Erin had always been good under pressure. Ever since she was young, she loved the adrenaline that came with the pressure of having to finish something first. She was extremely competitive, but not like those people who got so competitive that they ruined everyone's fun. When time was called, there were a lot of groans going around the room from the people who didn't get to finish all the questions.

The papers were taken to the teacher's desk and graded, while the rest of the room waited in agonizing anticipation. The teacher, Mr. Hayes, came to the front of the room with the papers of the three lucky people who would win the trip to New York. Erin mentally crossed her fingers, her toes, and anything else that she could cross.

"Brian Smith had the most correct answers and finished in the quickest amount of time. Sam Hall comes in second. And we have a tie for third place."

Erin's heart began beating faster. She had to go to New York! She just had to!

"Because she finished in a quicker amount of time, Laura Chapman will participate in the decathlon with Mr. Smith and Mr. Hall."

Erin's heart sank. There went all of her chances of trying to win over Sam. Not to mention she just lost out on a really cool trip to one of her favorite places.

"Erin Avery will attend with Mr. Smith, Mr. Hall, and Ms. Chapman as the alternate."

Had Erin just heard right? She was going to New York? Even as an alternate, that was better than nothing!

"As for the rest of you, you all did a wonderful job. These were some very tough questions, and it's difficult to do them when you're timed. Practice doing these kinds of questions and timing yourself, and I invite you to all try again next year. Would the four participants please stay with me, and the rest of you are dismissed."

"We got in!" Laura squealed as she hugged Erin tightly. "I'm so happy for you!"

"I'm happy for the both of us! Hey, you're the one that gets to compete!"

"You're still coming with us! What a huge honor!"

The four of them approached Mr. Hayes at the front of the room.

"Congratulations to the four of you! This is a tremendous honor and you should all feel quite proud of yourselves! Here are your folders filled with everything you need to know about the decathlon. Your plane tickets are in there as well. Get some rest, and I'll be at the airport to see you off! I'm very proud of each one of you!"

"Yeah, guys, we got in!" Brian exclaimed giving them all high-fives as they left the room. "NYC, here we come!"

Erin laughed, then noticed Sam wasn't joining in.

"Sam, are you okay?" she asked him when they had made it outside and it was just the two of them.

"What?" he said, as if he was finally coming back from la-la land.

"Well, you did just place second in the mini-competition and you're going to New York City, but you don't look very happy."

"It's nothing."

"I don't believe you. Spill."

Sam sighed. "My Calculus teacher failed me in the class."

"He what? Isn't that your best class?"

"Yeah, he thinks I cheated."

"Why would he think that?"

"Because he's not as smart as me."

Erin gave him a small laugh. "Why?"

"I got every question right on the final, but I didn't write out the solutions because I just do them in my head. But since he can't do them in his head, and apparently he thinks he's the smartest guy on the planet, he believes that I must've seen the answers somewhere."

"That's just ridiculous. Are you going to tell someone? Like your parents, or our principal? So they can straighten this guy out?"

"Look, don't worry about me. I can figure this out for myself."

"You're my best friend! It's my job to worry about you!" she laughed. _But I want to be more than your best friend! Why won't you give me the chance?! _she thought. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow at the airport!"

"Yeah, see you then!"

Erin stared off at him as he went to get in the car with Brian. Why couldn't he see how much she liked him?

* * *

><p>Erin was thrilled as she wheeled her carryon with her after check-in and security. She saw the group all huddled together with Mr. Hayes there to make sure they got on safely.<p>

"Hey, where's Sam?" Erin asked.

"I don't know," Laura answered. "He should be here by now. We're about to board."

As soon as her words left her lips, they saw Sam running towards them. "Hey, sorry I'm late. My dad was supposed to give me a ride but he was late picking me up…again."

"No worries," Laura smiled.

Sam shyly smiled back, and Erin felt a surge of jealousy.

Erin noticed Sam nervously fiddling with his carryon. "You okay?" she asked him out of earshot of the others.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he answered without looking at her.

She paused before asking, "Are you afraid of flying?"

"No," he said so quickly, she obviously could tell he was lying.

"Sam, it's okay to be scared. A lot of people don't like flying. But it's all going to be fine. The flight isn't too long, and all of your friends are right here beside you, okay?"

Sam smiled at her. "Alright, fine."

She playfully punched him. "You'll be fine."

They began boarding the plane after saying good-bye to Mr. Hayes, and Erin found to her dismay that the rows on the plane only had three seats, which meant she was separated from the others. She sat in the row across from them. Another wave of jealousy swept through her as she saw Laura sit next to Sam. Why couldn't it be her who got to sit so close to him?

After everyone was finally seated and they were clear for take-off, the plane lifted into the sky.

_NYC, here I come!_


	2. Round One

The flight started off pretty quiet and completely ordinary. Sam looked ready to puke, but Erin knew he wouldn't dare do so in front of Laura. So instead, he scarfed down food to calm his nerves. If only Erin was sitting next to him! Then she could be there to comfort him!

"You all right?" Laura asked as she looked up at him from her book full of practice questions for the competition.

Sam nodded, trying to conceal his fear.

"He's afraid of flying," Brian told her without looking up.

Sam glared daggers at him, and tried to pass off what Brian said. "I'm fine." Erin knew he didn't want to look like a coward in front of Laura.

Lightning began to flash outside, which made Erin nervous for Sam. It was really scary to be on a plane for him period, and being in a storm would not help his case whatsoever. The plane started to shake, but Sam appeared to not notice.

There was a ding, and the sign that said "Fasten seatbelts" lit up. That wasn't good.

"You know," Brian started, trying to make up for his earlier reveal of Sam's fear, "statistically, the chance of a plane going down because of turbulence is less than, what? One in a billion?" He paused. "Or is it a million? I can't remember if it's a million—"

"Shut up, Brian," Laura scolded. "Listen, Sam, don't pay attention to him, okay?"

There was another huge lightning flash that made Erin flinch in her seat. She didn't mind flying at all, but she _hated _thunderstorms. She always had ever since she was little. And being up in the sky during one did not sound like fun to her.

"Everything's fine," Laura continued. "They're still serving drinks."

Just as she said that, one of the flight attendants went to the one serving drinks and said something out of earshot.

There was another ding and the pilot came on over the speaker. "Folks, it appears we're gonna have a little bit of a bumpy ride here for the next few minutes."

Erin's stomach knotted up, and she had no doubt that Sam felt the same way if not worse. "Sam," she whispered across the aisle. He turned to look at her and no one could mistake that fear in his eyes. "It's going to be okay." She didn't know if she was reassuring him or herself at that point.

"Please fasten your seatbelts and put your tray tables and seat backs in their upright positions until we get through this. Thank you."

Erin quickly buckled her seatbelt and leaned back and tried to breathe.

Suddenly, the plane took a small little dive that made Erin cry out in fear. The drink cart slid out of the flight attendant's grasp at the back of the plane and began rolling forward. Sam nearly got whacked in the face by the cart. The flight attendant buckled up in the front desperately tried to unbuckle herself before getting hit by the cart. She managed to stand up seconds before the cart crashed into where she had been sitting.

Erin heard Sam hyperventilating across the aisle and wanted to go over to him and tell him it was all going to be alright. But she was just as scared as he was and could only concentrate on leaving the plane alive. Bags began to fall from the compartments above them. One landed right on Erin and she cried out in surprise.

Then the plane finally stopped shaking and everything was back to normal.

Erin looked over at Sam who was hunched up and pressed so far back into his seat, he was practically one with it.

"Sam?" Laura said. "Sam?" He looked over at her. "Can I have my hand back?" she smiled.

Erin looked at Sam's hand placed over hers and felt yet another surge of jealousy. This was getting old and she was already tired of feeling this way. This was going to be a long trip.

Sam took his hand off hers and she moved her fingers around to get the feeling back into them. Apparently, he'd been gripping it pretty tight. They smiled awkwardly at each other, trying to pass it off.

He looked over at Erin, who still had some stranger's carryon sitting in her lap after it fell on her. "Are you alright?" he asked.

She smiled. "Yeah, luckily this bag wasn't too heavy. No broken bones that I'm aware of. How about you? That was rough."

"I'm fine."

Suddenly, the oxygen masks released in front of everyone because of the turbulence, surprising Erin once more. Great. Nearly two heart attacks, and the competition hadn't even started yet.

* * *

><p>After finally getting off that deathtrap, as Sam was calling it, the four of them hitched a cab, and made their way to the competition. With the weather getting bad, there were cars everywhere and they were at a standstill.<p>

_Good old New York traffic, _Erin thought.

"Excuse me, sir?" Laura said to the driver. "We're really late."

"We're almost there," he responded shortly.

Brian looked at his map of the city. "We're only two blocks away," he noted.

"Let's walk," Sam replied.

The four of them exited the car and hurried to the competition. As they grabbed their bags, Sam looked up at the sky and the others followed suit. Hundreds of birds were flying south, but it wasn't really winter yet. It seemed a bit early for them to be flying south, especially all of them at once.

"Is that normal?" Erin asked.

"I don't know," Sam answered.

They rushed to the competition and just barely made it on time. Brian, Sam, and Laura walked to their designated table while Erin sat to the side and watched them compete. As much as she wished she could be the one competing, she knew Laura deserved the spot more than she did.

The competition began and questions were fired from the administrators.

Several questions later, the question was asked, "In 1532, Spanish Conquistador Francisco Pizarro defeated this Incan Emperor at the Peruvian highland town of Cajamarca. What is his name? Time."

Erin looked at her team and saw Laura with a horrified blank look. She didn't know the answer. She watched Brian and Laura discuss the answer and Laura frantically looked at the time. They only had three seconds!

_It's Atahualpa!_ she screamed in her mind.

Sam said something which must've been right because Laura quickly wrote it down on the paper and handed it to the administrator. He looked at the answer and held it up, signaling they had gotten it right. Erin smiled at her team. She wasn't angry at Laura for not kowing the answer, and didn't have that attitude where she kept thinking, "I'm so much smarter than her. It should be me." Even though she knew that one and Laura didn't, there had been several questions Erin hadn't known the answer to. Which is exactly why Laura was sitting at that table and not Erin.

Suddenly, Laura began to cough a lot and the administrator who had taken their paper went over to her. They were talking and Erin couldn't make out what they were saying. The administrator held up his hand, and signaled for the competition to be stopped for a second.

"There will be a substitution for Woodmont. Erin Avery will be substituting for Laura Chapman."

One of the female administrators took Laura's arm and escorted her out of the room. Laura passed Erin and whispered to her so no one else could hear her, "Your turn. Good luck." She was faking. Laura was faking being sick so Erin got a chance to compete. She couldn't believe she would do something like that. She was a really, really good friend.

Erin took her seat in between Sam and Brian and nodded to the front, and the competition resumed.

"We will now resume the decathlon. Next question. In what year did Louis Quatorze ascend to the throne of France? Time."

"1643," Erin whispered to her teammates without hesitation. The two boys nodded, and she scribbled the date onto the paper. They got it right. Sam smiled at Erin and she felt butterflies start to whiz around in her stomach. She forced herself to stop and focus on the competition. Laura just gave up her seat willingly and Erin was determined to not mess up their current score they had all worked so hard for.

The questions continued, and Erin didn't know the answer to a couple of them, but Sam gladly took over on those two. Nevertheless, both he and Brian seemed pretty impressed that she knew so many of the answers, especially the dates, which were tricky things to remember.

Perhaps she still had a small window?

* * *

><p>After the first round, there was a fancy dinner for all of the contestants. Erin and Laura decided to get ready for it together and help each other with the other's hair.<p>

"Laura, why did you do that today?" Erin asked as she waited for her curling iron to heat up in the bathroom.

"I've been an alternate before, and I know it's not much fun watching everyone else compete while you're sitting there, wishing you were there. I wanted you to have a chance to show what you got too. And you most certainly did! Brian told me that you knew a lot of the answers to the questions!"

Erin smiled shyly. "I just have a thing for remembering dates. I don't know what it is, but I've always been able to knock off the date questions on tests!"

"That's good because I'm awful with dates!"

The girls laughed and went about getting ready.

Erin pinned up half of her hair in tight curls on the back of her head, and curled the rest that hung down her back. She wore a simple white strapless dress that hugged her petite form, but not so tight that she looked like she was trying to pick up guys with her body.

Laura simply curled all of her hair and wore a black dress with a neckline that dipped and layered a little.

"Go on ahead," Laura called from the stall. "I'll meet you down there!"

"Alright! See you there!" Erin called back.

Erin took a deep breath at the top of the stairs. She looked really good, and that didn't happen often. Maybe when Sam saw her, something would click?

She slowly walked down as her eyes scanned the crowd for her friends. She spotted them and walked over, the butterflies starting up again.

"Hi, guys!" she called.

"Wow, you look really nice!" Sam said.

The butterflies began to fly harder. "Thank you!"

"Look at all these nerds…" Brian remarked softly.

Erin gave him a "look-at-yourself-because-you're-the-biggest-nerd-here" look.

"Hey!" Laura called as she walked over to join them.

Sam stared at her. "You look beautiful."

Erin wanted to burst into flame. There went that idea.

"Thanks!" Laura smiled. "This place is incredible! Do you believe that this is their cafeteria?"

This really cute guy walked up to them and Erin recognized him from their rival team, who was almost as good as they were. Almost.

"You played a great first round," he told Laura.

"So did you," she answered. "These are my teammates, Sam, Brian, and Erin."

"Right, you took over for her, didn't you?" he asked Erin.

She nodded back at him, really losing interest in conversation.

"I'm Laura."

"I'm J.D. By the way, how are you feeling?"

"Oh, I'm fine. I don't know what came over me, but it's all good." She flashed Erin a quick smile, and Erin couldn't help but smile back. "Your school is amazing."

"Would you like—would you like a tour?" he asked.

Laura quickly glanced at Sam as if making sure it was okay with him. When Sam didn't say anything, she responded, "Sure. That'd be great." She handed Sam her glass. "Could you hold this for a sec?"

"Yeah, sure," Sam replied, hiding his aggravation pretty well.

"Thanks!"

Erin watched her go and felt angry, but not necessarily at her. She was just frustrated that Laura seemed to get all of the guys' attention while she was left in the dust. She couldn't get Sam's attention, and now she couldn't even get this new guy's attention. It wasn't Laura's fault she had been blessed with such a nice personality and super good looks. It's just the way it happened.

"Man, you got some serious competition," Brian remarked.

"Please," Sam scoffed.

"I'll bet he's really rich, too."

"Shut up."

Erin's mood was getting worse and worse and she felt frustrated at herself for feeling this way and frustrated with Laura for getting all the guys and she just wanted this whole thing to be over with. She had been so excited, but there was no way Erin ever had a chance with Sam if Laura was in the same room.

"I think I'm just gonna call it a night," she said to her friends.

"But you just got here," Sam told her.

"You know, I don't think I'm feeling so hot, and I want to be well rested for the second round of the competition."

She turned around and at the bottom of the stairs, she felt hand on her arm.

"Hey, are you alright?"

It was Sam. He was concerned about her. But that was what a good friend did. That's all it was. He was trying to be a good friend. "Yeah, I'm just really tired. That first round kind of drained me."

"You only played half the round. If anything, Brian and I should be tired. What's up?"

"I'm fine, okay? Just drop it." She raced back up the stairs, thankful she was wearing her flats and not her heels.

Once back in the bathroom, she shut the door firmly behind her. She felt like Eponine alright. If she knew she didn't have such a terrible voice, she might've started belting out "On My Own." Yeah, right, that wouldn't give her away.

She looked at herself in the mirror. So much work for about five minutes of showing it off. All that time spent on her hair, and she was about to take it out. What did it matter anyway?

She had always sworn to herself she would never get so beat up about a guy, but the feelings for him were too strong to just push down and ignore. It was a lot harder to deal with these when he and Laura flirted in front of her every twenty seconds.

With a sigh, she changed out of her nice clothes and took her hair down before throwing it into a messy bun. At least this was more comfortable, and it wasn't like Sam was going to notice her no matter what she dressed in.


	3. JD's Place

The next morning, the rain was still pouring outside and had been for hours on end. Everyone was piled in front of the TV watching the news with horror. Several tornados were ripping through Los Angeles at a devastating speed, destroying everything in their path. Some of the tornados had merged together to form one huge one. It was a scary sight indeed, and Erin felt terrible for all those people so close to death.

"It-it-it looks like some sort of huge horrific, terrifying nightmare," the news anchor screamed over the roar of the tornados behind him. "Only this is the real thing!"

Suddenly, the anchor got crushed by a sign that flattened him in seconds. Gasps and screams erupted from the group huddled around the small TV.

The scene changed to a helicopter view, and a woman in the background said with a somber tone, "What you're seeing is what's left of downtown Los Angeles."

Brian came up behind Sam. "Hey, man, I just got off the phone with my mom," he said quietly to him. Then he announced to the whole group, "Um, excuse me, you guys. I'm really sorry, but we need to change the channel."

This was met with groans and sighs of exasperation. Brian went up to the TV and switched the channel to another news station also reporting on the tornados.

The screen showed an airport and cancelled signs for all flights. Another woman explained, "The F.A.A. has grounded all air traffic in the United States. Unfortunately, the order came too late for two planes that were brought down by severe turbulence in the Midwest."

The screen showed a terrifying image of two planes smashed on the ground, and no survivors.

"So much for one in a billion," Sam said quietly to Brian.

Before the second round could even start, an awful smell filled the room. Everyone looked around, trying to figure where the horrid odor was coming from.

One of the administrators ran into the room, obviously a bit frantic. "Ladies and gentlemen, all of the rain has caused the sewage system to malfunction. It hasn't stopped raining for far too long and they are closing the tunnels and some of the subway systems. Due to this unfortunate weather occurrence, we are cancelling the rest of the decathlon. We are currently trying to find places for you all to stay while in New York City since most transportation systems are down. So please stand by, and wait for us to figure out where you are all going. Thank you and we apologize."

Groans filled the room once more. Most of these people had spent years trying to get to the decathlon, here they were, and now everything was ruined. Erin just wanted desperately to be home now, safe and sound with her parents and her younger brother by her side.

Everyone took turns using the payphones to call their parents and tell them the unfortunate news.

"Hi, Mom," Erin said as her mother picked up.

"Hey, baby, is something wrong?"

"Well, all the rain we've gotten has backed up the sewage system and they just cancelled the rest of the competition."

"Oh, no! I'm so sorry to hear that!"

"They're trying to find a place for us to stay since all planes are grounded and the subways are stopped. We're trying to get on a train tomorrow, but we'll have to see how it plays out."

"Okay, well keep me informed and let me know what I can do."

"Okay, thanks, Mom. Don't worry, I've got Laura here with me so I won't be alone with the guys."

Her mother laughed. "I know. I love you, sweetheart."

"Love you too."

"I'll see you soon. Bye."

Erin hung up the phone and moved out of the way so the next person could use it. She then rejoined her group and noticed that J.D. was with them.

"Hey, guys," Erin said.

"Hey, J.D. was telling us we could stay at his place," Laura told her.

"Really?"

"Hey, Sam!" Laura called. "Guess what? We got a place to stay!"

Erin didn't want to go to a stranger's house. She wanted to go home. She felt safe at home. But there was nothing she could do and having a bad attitude about it all wasn't going to help anything.

* * *

><p>"Hey, thanks for bringing us here," Laura said sweetly.<p>

"I couldn't let you leave New York without seeing the Natural History Museum," J.D. replied.

To get their minds off the competition being cancelled, J.D. had decided to take everyone to the museum and then they would go back to his place to crash.

"Of course not," Sam added in sarcastically. "It's the world's finest collection of stuffed animals."

Erin giggled. He was so cute when he got jealous. Laura gave him a sharp look, silently telling him to behave.

"Hey, guys," Brian said. "Check this out." Everyone went to go look at an exhibit of a huge mammoth. "'The body of this mammoth was found perfectly preserved in the Siberian tundra,'" Brian read, "'with food still in its mouth and stomach, indicating that it froze instantly while grazing.'"

That was disgusting. And super creepy. Just to think that an animal could have frozen solid in seconds sent a chill down her spine, no pun intended.

They toured the rest of the exhibits and it was clear that J.D. kept flirting with Laura, much to Sam's dismay. But Erin could tell that Laura was just being nice to him, and she wasn't interested in him the same way.

As they exited the museum, J.D. called his driver and they rode back to his house to crash for the night.

"Good evening, sir!" the doorman called out as they got out of the cab.

"Hey, Harold! Thanks, Victor! I'll see you in the morning."

"Very good, sir!

Boy, this guy really was rich! A private driver, and a huge place like this to stay? It was a bit much to take in!

"Terrible weather!" Harold said as he held an umbrella over as many people as he could.

"Tell me about it!"

They went up to the top floor where J.D. lived. It was absolutely huge!

"You live here?" Laura asked, obviously surprised.

"Just on the weekends," he answered. "It's my dad's place, and he's kind of never around, so…"

"Where is he?" Sam asked.

"Skiing in Europe with my stepmom," he said, the disdain apparent in his voice.

Laura took up a picture with J.D. and a younger boy. "Is this you and your brother?" she asked.

"Oh, yeah. That's when we took a bike trip together."

"You're close with him?" Erin asked.

He smiled. "We couldn't be closer. After Mom passed away and Dad sort of lost it, he looked up to me, and I had to kind of fill the position of Mom and Dad."

Sam and Brian went over to the window.

"It's been raining like this for three days now," Brian remarked.

A huge clap of thunder tore through the sky following a bright flash of lighting, making Erin jump a little.

Laura smiled. "It's just a storm."

Erin smiled back sheepishly. "I know."

"Come on, let's get changed. I'm exhausted."

Erin obliged and followed her to a huge bedroom that easily could've housed several people at once. "This place is amazing. I'd kill to live here!" Erin said as she took in her surroundings.

Laura laughed. "Well, maybe if you're ever in New York again, you can ask J.D. for the place!"

They changed into pajamas and Laura took the bed while Erin took the pull-out couch.

Erin tossed and turned for a couple hours, the thunderstorm keeping her awake. Finally, she got up and put her sweatshirt on, then went to the living room, turned a dim light on, and just sat on the couch.

There was a small noise behind her and she saw that J.D. was awake. "What are you doing up?" he asked as he ran his fingers through his curly hair. He was wearing a simple t-shirt, and plaid pajama bottoms, and she had to admit that even though he had just gotten up, he looked kinda hot.

She smiled sheepishly again. "Couldn't sleep."

"The storm keeping you awake?"

"You could say that."

J.D. came and sat on the seat opposite her. "You know, you don't have to be embarrassed about being afraid of thunderstorms."

Erin didn't respond for a while, before she finally said, "What gave it away?"

"You've seemed really tense ever since the thunder and lightning picked up. And now you're wide awake at three in the morning."

Erin smiled. "Well, you're right. I've hated thunderstorms ever since I was a kid. I guess I never grew out of the phobia like most kids usually do."

J.D. smiled. "That's nothing to be embarrassed about. Lots of people hate thunderstorms."

Erin noticed that this was sounding really similar to her talk with Sam about his fear of flying. "No one I know does."

"Well, there's an easy trick to getting over them. Here, lie down." When Erin gave him a sharp look, he added, "Trust me."

Erin hesitantly did as she was told and laid down on the couch.

"Now," J. D. continued, "close your eyes."

Erin did so, but had to admit that she was a little nervous. She didn't know J.D. very well, and had no idea what he was getting at.

"Whenever you see a flash, think of it as a spark happening between you and a guy you like. Then, when the thunder follows, think of it like both of your hearts pounding because you both like each other so much and you're nervous."

Erin opened her eyes and scoffed. "That's really cheesy."

J.D. took her hand in his. "Just do it."

Erin closed her eyes again, and could feel J.D.'s hand getting hotter from their body heat transferring to one another. She saw a flash through her closed eyes, and imagined a spark between her and Sam. But the image of Sam suddenly was replaced with J.D. She almost opened her eyes and bolted upright, but the last thing she wanted was J.D. asking her what was wrong. There was no way she could explain to him what just happened. She wasn't even sure she could explain it to herself. Her heart began to pound in time with the thunder that followed the flash.

J.D.'s plan worked, for within minutes, Erin was sound asleep on the couch.


	4. Frigid Rainwater

Erin awoke when she heard people's voices and shuffling around in the apartment. She slowly sat up and stretched out her muscles, seeing that the storm was still raging on outside.

"Hey," Laura said. "What are you doing out here? Did I keep you awake?"

"No, no, it was nothing like that. It's just that…the bed was kind of uncomfortable." She and J.D. made eye contact as he listened to their conversation and he smiled at her. For some reason, his smile made her stomach lurch and she could feel a blush crawling up on her cheeks. Luckily, Laura didn't seem to notice.

"Well, they've delivered breakfast up for us if you're hungry."

Erin got up and ate with everyone before they all went off to separate rooms to change into their clothes. When Erin came out to the living room, everyone was sitting in front of the TV watching another news report about the horrible weather, while J.D. was on the phone with someone.

She managed to hear the news anchor announce that the train platforms were flooded and therefore no trains were running at all. Her heart sank at the horrible news that she was now stuck in New York for an indefinite amount of time.

"Victor's coming to pick me up," J.D. announced. "Do you guys want a ride to the train station?"

"Not anymore," Brian stated solemnly.

Erin sighed. "Can I borrow your phone?" she asked J.D. "I really need to call my mom."

"Yeah, sure," he answered, not taking his eyes off the screen.

Erin dialed her mom's number and waited for the other end to pick up. She didn't answer so Erin had to leave a message.

"Hey, Mom. It looks like the train station is flooded and so no trains are running either. Until this weather clears, it looks like I'm going to have to stay here in New York. I'll try to be home as soon as I can and keep you updated about what's happening. I love you, Mom. Bye."

She hung up and walked back over as J.D. told everyone, "I gotta go pick up my little brother. Do you guys want a ride?"

"Where is he?" Laura asked.

"He's in a boarding school in Philadelphia."

It didn't seem like they had any other choice, so everyone packed their bags and began to head out.

J.D. got a call on his phone and it appeared to be Victor on the other line.

"Okay, bye," he said as he hung up. "Victor's stuck in traffic on Fifth Avenue. It'll be easier to head out of town if we meet him over there."

"All right," Sam answered.

"You mean walk?" Brian asked, holding the elevator open. "No, not in this."

The lights began to flicker which made Erin uneasy. She was already jumpy about the storm and having the power go out would not help her case.

"We should take the stairs," Sam said.

"We're on the top floor!" J.D. countered.

That's when the power went out completely, and Erin's heart starting pounding even more than it already had been.

"I guess we're walking," Brian said as they headed down the stairs.

Erin bit her bottom lip and could feel herself start to tremble. Then she felt an arm go around her shoulders. "Just remember what I told you last night," J.D. said so only she could hear. Erin smiled at him and could feel her cheeks start to grow hot again. But it wasn't like she actually liked him, right?

When they finally made it to the door, they were greeted with flooded streets and traffic at a complete standstill. The rain continued to pour down relentlessly as people got out of the cars and just started walking with their umbrellas.

"Maybe we should just stay here," Laura said.

"I think the young lady is right, sir," Harold agreed.

"No," Sam argued. "We need to get home."

"How are we gonna get home with no means of transportation?" Erin asked.

"We've just gotta get to Victor and then we'll be fine."

Without waiting for an answer, Sam took off and they had no choice but to follow. Erin got drenched in less than ten seconds and it didn't take long for her to feel chilled. Her teeth began to chatter, but she tried not to show it.

"Come on, guys! This way!" Sam urged.

They kept wading through the rising water until they stopped in front of the public library.

"I can't reach my driver! I lost the signal!" J.D. shouted over the chaos.

"This is insane!" Laura responded. "We should just go back to your apartment!"

"Yeah, I vote for that!" Brian added.

"What? Are you kidding? We have to get higher!" Sam told them. "Come on! Up to the library!" They all followed him up the stairs to the library, Erin's panic rising inside of her. Being outside in the middle of the storm was even worse than trying to sleep during it.

J.D. seemed to sense her uneasiness and took her hand in his once again. Despite the rain, his hand felt warm to the touch. "It's okay. We're just gonna get to the library and then you'll be just fine."

She nodded her head, silently thankful he was helping her get through this. The truth was that she had probably never been so scared, and at least he was keeping her levelheaded.

"Hey, where's Laura?" Sam asked. The group looked around and realized they were indeed one female short.

"She's right there!" Erin announced. "She's—She's by a cab talking to someone, I think."

"What—What is she doing?"

They watched as Laura was evidently helping a policeman get two people, a mother and child, out of the cab they were trapped in. Once they were finally out, they all started to come back up to go inside the library. Suddenly, the woman started yelling something in French, which Laura said she was saying that they left their passports in the cab, and she would go get them for her.

Erin watched her go and then saw with overwhelming horror a huge…no, colossal wall of water heading straight for them. Laura didn't notice it as she tried to get the bag, and without thinking, Erin ran straight for her to save her.

"ERIN!" she heard J.D. yell after her.

"LAURA!" Sam screamed.

All Erin could focus on was getting to her friend in time. She seemed to be moving in slow motion, like it was impossible for her to reach her before the wall hit the both of them.

"Laura!" Erin screamed.

Finally having got the bag from the cab, Laura turned to her friend. Erin grabbed Laura's hand and dragged her away, trying to make it into the library. Laura turned her head and began to run faster once she realized why Erin was so panicked.

The two boys had run to the girls and Sam grabbed Laura while J.D. got Erin. They tried to run as fast as they could, the wall getting closer and closer to them.

"Come on, Erin!" J.D. screamed.

Erin felt like her lungs were about to burst, but they all successfully made it into the library. They ran up the stairs to try to make it to the higher levels, but Erin tripped on the stairs.

"Erin!" J.D. cried.

Erin turned to look at the windows when the wall of water crashed through the glass with a powerful force she had never seen. J.D. yanked her up and they ran higher and higher until they made it to a point where the water had not reached.

Erin collapsed onto a chair, taking heaving breaths.

"Are you okay?" J.D. asked, the concern showing on his face. His wet hair was matted down around his face and made him look even cuter than he already was.

"Yeah. I don't think I've ever run that fast before," she laughed.

"Adrenaline can make you do a lot of things."

Suddenly, she flinched as a sharp pain coursed through her leg.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I think I just bruised my shin when I fell. The privilege of having two left feet."

Once things calmed down a little, everyone started trying their cell phones and other gadgets they had. J.D. put the phone to his ear, but there was nothing.

"Hey, Erin," Laura said. "Thanks for coming back for me. You too, Sam. That was really brave."

"I just wanted you safe," Erin said to her friend.

Sam and Laura smiled at each other, and Erin found that the pain over their various interactions was starting to dull. Was it because she was used to it now? Or was it something else?

"I guess I better return her bag," Laura smiled.

Sam looked after her and there was no mistaking the love and adoration he had for her.

"Sam," J.D. said as he walked over to him. "Just tell her how you feel."

The pain had certainly dulled, but that didn't mean it was gone. Erin tried to hide her watering eyes when he said that. That was the icing on the cake. Now even J.D. saw the love they had for each other and was telling him to go for it. Those few words killed any chance at all that Sam might find that he had feelings for her.

Erin sat on the chair, praying that no one was looking at her or noticed how much she was trying not to fall apart. She was so lost in self-pity, she almost didn't notice Sam and Laura exiting the room. He was saying something about payphones drawing power directly from the line. If that was the case, they could call someone. Erin got up and followed them and J.D., being the concerned guy he was, followed her.

The four of them made it down to where the payphones were and saw with incredible dismay that it was halfway underwater, and the water was rising rapidly.

"Are you sure about this?" Laura asked.

Sam didn't answer, but waded into the water and let out a cry of shock as the cold water drenched him all at once.

"Sam, be careful!" Erin said.

"It works!" he called back to them after he tested the phone.

Erin smiled, but couldn't erase the fact that the water was climbing higher and higher.

"Dad!" Sam exclaimed evidently having gotten through to his father. "I'm alright! We're at the public library! Mom, can you call Laura, Brian, and Erin's parents and tell them we're alright?"

Sam fell beneath the water and the group could no longer see him. "Sam?" Laura cried.

"He's fine," Erin tried to reassure her, though she really wasn't confident in her words.

They could just barely hear his conversation now, which worried them all.

"Sam, come back!" Laura cried to her friend.

The water rose too high and covered the opening. No Sam.

"Sam!" Erin screamed. She whipped off her jacket and dove into the water, just barely hearing J.D. scream her name. The shock of the freezing water hit her all at once like pins and needles and almost knocked her unconscious. She forced her eyes open and felt them sting as the dirty water came in contact with them. It was almost pitch black under the water, but she could just barely make out Sam's outline, blindingly trying to find his way to the surface for air. She quickly waded over to him and grabbed his arm. He was surprised at first, but then allowed her to take him once he realized it was Erin. Running out of breath, Erin quickly guided him to the stairs, and together they burst through the water, gasping for air.

Laura gasped heavily in relief as she and J.D. took hold of them, both of them shivering violently. Sam was a light shade of blue more so than Erin since he had been in the water longer.

"I thought you drowned," Laura said to Sam with tears in her eyes. She held him for a second, taking in the fact that he was alive.

Erin breathed heavily, her hands curled into tight fists as her entire body shook from the sheer cold of the water. She looked over at Sam, thankful she had gotten to him in time. J.D. pulled her into a very tight embrace. He felt so warm against her shivering body. She let herself relax as much as she could while she was freezing cold into his arms.

"Oh my gosh. Are you okay?" he asked.

She ever so slightly nodded her head. "Yeah," she mustered out.

"Let's find you both some dry clothes," Laura said. She helped Sam up and they walked up the stairs. Erin tried to do the same, but found that she couldn't make her legs move. J.D. scooped her up in his arms as she continued to shiver. She felt so weak, like those people in black and white movies who fainted all the time. Sam was obviously suffering more than she was, and he still managed to stand up and walk up the stairs.

"S-sorry," she shivered in J.D.'s arms.

"Sorry for what?"

"F-for you having to c-carry me."

"I'm just rescuing the damsel in distress," he smiled.

Erin laughed as much as she hated being called that.

He set her down on a chair and he and Laura grabbed clothes for them from the closet in the library. They had a feeling no one would mind at this point if they borrowed them. The sad truth was that some of the owners of the clothes were probably killed by now.

"Here, put this on," J.D. said as he handed her a shirt, a pair of pants, and a thick coat. She didn't know who had left that all behind or why, but she certainly wasn't going to question it. "I promise I won't look," he added as he turned around.

Erin let out a strained laugh and tried to change, but her fingers were like ice and she could barely move them.

"Here." Laura quickly helped Erin get her clothes off while she made sure the boys were not looking, and got her into the shirt and pants J.D. had gotten for her.

"Th-thanks."

Once Erin was dressed, Laura quickly went back over to Sam to resume helping him get dressed and then helped warm him up with her body heat; something about his heart failing if she didn't.

J.D. turned back to her and helped her get the coat on.

"I c-can't stop sh-shaking."

"I know. Come here." He pulled her into another tight hug, and she could almost feel the cold begin to leave her body as he warmed her up. Despite her chill, she could feel the blush coming to her face again. Ever so slowly, her shivering began to cease and they all finally went back to join everyone else. No doubt Brian was worried about them all.

"Hey," Sam said to Erin once they had rejoined the group downstairs. "Thanks for what you did down there."

Erin smiled. "You would have done the same for me."

"No, but seriously, thank you. I was losing it fast. Man, first you rush to save Laura, then you save me. When did you get so brave?"

_Last night at three in the morning,_ she thought.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: It always bugged me that Laura was freaking out about Sam nearly drowning and all she did was stand there on the steps doing nothing for him. So I decided to change that. **


	5. Staying the Library

**A/N: Okay, so when it came to names of the people in the library, no one ever actually said their name. So I went on IMDB and looked up the cast and even then I couldn't get all of them. So as far as their names go, I was using my best judgement. Chloe and her cousin, however, are my OCs.**

* * *

><p>With the power out, the temperature inside the library started dropping to match the temperature outside. People started bundling up in coats, scarves, and hats to keep warm.<p>

Suddenly, there was a loud rumbling sound and they all went out to the balcony to see what was up. Erin's mouth dropped as a huge cargo ship passed right by the library in the middle of the city streets.

Snow began to fall at rapid pace, making the temperature drop even faster, challenging the temperature in the library to keep up. The group ran to the window and watched the ship lodge in between two large buildings and come to a halt. The snow seemed to be coming down faster, but at least the thunderstorm was over and Erin felt less uneasy. That didn't mean that she was completely okay with the snow. No doubt the snow would be just like the rain and no one could know when it would ever stop.

As time went on, the snow started piling higher and higher, just like the rainwater. Everyone in the library spread out and rested or tried to talk with others to get through this until the snow stopped.

Erin couldn't sleep. She found that she was way too nervous about the storm, not to mention she had no idea how her family was doing or where they were. She sat against the wall, hugging her knees to her chest, trying to think of good thoughts about them or past memories that made her smile.

"Hey," J.D. said quietly as he walked over and sat down across from her.

"Hey," she smiled, resting her hands on her knees.

"You know, what you did for Sam…that was really cool of you."

"Thanks. I just did what I knew Sam would've done for me if I had been in that situation. That water was unbelievably cold though! Oh my gosh, I thought my heart was going to stop!"

J.D. laughed. "You were pretty frigid when you came out of the water! I thought you were never going to warm up!"

"Believe me, neither did I!"

They both smiled at each other before Erin's thoughts drifted back to her family, and the smile immediately left her face.

"What's wrong?" he asked. He seemed to ask that a lot lately.

"I guess I'm just worried about my family. I haven't spoken to Mom since I called her on the payphone."

"I understand. I'm worried about my brother. Maybe Victor got to him, but I have no way of knowing." He put his hand on hers. "It's going to be okay. We're going to get through this. And we're all going to see our families again."

Their eyes met, and for the first time, Erin saw how beautiful they were. In that moment, she forgot about the storm, and all her fears, and just felt so relaxed.

Her thoughts were interrupted again when an African-American man ran in from outside and exclaimed, "Hey, man! There's people out there! I was walking my dog. There's hundreds of them! They're walking on the snow!"

People stirred awake and some of them ran to the windows where they indeed saw many people trying to hike across the thick snow and escape from the storm.

"Where are they going?" one officer asked.

"They're getting out of the city before it's too late," another replied.

There was a pause before an African-American officer stood up on the stairs in front of the window and addressed the restless crowd.

"All right, everybody! Quiet down! When was the last time anybody got a signal on a cell phone?"

"I got through to my cousin in Memphis an hour ago," one woman called. "They're being evacuated to the south."

"We should get moving too," the officer announced. "The water's frozen over enough to walk on. We should get going before the snow gets too deep!"

Everyone started packing up what few possessions they had and bundled up even more before they faced the bitter cold outside.

J.D. helped Erin off the floor and they stood up and prepared to leave with the rest of the group, though Erin was not keen on being freezing cold all over again.

"We're going to get out of here, Erin," J.D. said.

They looked over and saw Sam talking quietly with the officer, but they couldn't make out what they were saying to each other. Suddenly, Sam said loud enough for everyone to hear, "If these people go outside, they will freeze to death!"

All movement in the library stopped.

Erin met J.D's eyes, and saw that the fear in his matched her own. Neither was willing to doubt Sam. When it came to the weather, he was an expert considering his father studied it for a living.

"Okay, what is this nonsense?" the officer asked.

"It's not nonsense, all right?" Sam countered. "Look, this storm is gonna get worse, and the people who are caught outside, they will freeze to death!"

"Where are you getting this information?" an older gentleman asked him.

"My father's a climatologist. I heard it from him."

"What are you suggesting we do?"

"We stay inside, we keep warm, and we wait it out."

That sounded like a terrible plan to Erin, but going out into the storm sounded even worse. There were just no good options here whatsoever.

"The snow is getting deeper by the minute," the officer told him coldly. "We'd be trapped here without food, supplies."

"It's a risk, yeah."

"An unnecessary risk!"

"No, no, no, it's not!"

"We've wasted enough time talking about this. Come on, people. Let's go."

As much as Sam tried to convince people to stay, the majority of the people in the library bundled up and began to leave, disagreeing with a teenage kid. As the people passed him, Sam kept trying to tell them that they would not survive outside.

"Let's help," Erin said to J.D. She and J.D. began trying to convince people to stay. No one looked their way and all their efforts were completely futile.

Erin was frustrated at everyone's stubbornness and grabbed a teenage girl by the arm. In a completely serious and bordering deadly tone, she said to her, "If you go out there, you will be killed, no ifs, ands, or buts. If you're smart, you will stay here and wait it out with us."

The girl's hard look turned into an almost fearful one, and she stopped leaving and actually stayed with them in the library. In the end, only a handful of people remained. They all watched sadly, knowing that none of the people who were leaving were going to make it out of this alive.

They all went to the parlor in the library, a quaint little room with a nice fireplace they could use to keep warm.

Sam began throwing books in the fireplace, to which a blonde woman, Judith, asked, "What are you doing?"

"What do you think we're gonna burn?" Sam asked sarcastically.

"You can't burn books!"

"No, absolutely not!" the older gentleman, Jeremy, agreed.

"You wanna freeze to death?" Sam asked bluntly. It was obvious he had had enough and it was no more Mr. Nice Guy.

"I'll go get some more," a redhead teen, Elsa, said to him.

"I'll help you," Brian told her as he followed her out.

The black-haired teen that Erin had saved previously, Chloe, left to go find more as well. While they all went to find books, everyone else broke the vending machine glass and grabbed all of the food out of it. Erin knew it was going to be hard to ration it all out and make it last, but they didn't have any other choice.

"We're not gonna last very long on M&M's and potato chips," J.D. remarked.

"What about garbage cans?" the African-American man, Aaron, asked. "There's always something to eat in the garbage!"

Erin gave him a strange look, but she couldn't judge him. He was apparently homeless and had to learn how to find food no matter what.

They returned to the library and heard Brian telling Jeremy and Elsa that they could burn all the books about tax laws.

It had gotten a lot colder throughout the whole building and Erin was anxious to get that fire started so she could warm up a little.

They all gathered as many books as they could and delivered them to the parlor for easy use when the fire began to die down.

Brian and Elsa started looking through shelves when Brian came across an Edgar Allan Poe collection. "Ah, Poe," he laughed. "Brilliant writer, twisted life."

"And he reflected that twisted life in every single one of his stories. Too dark for my taste. Not to mention he married his cousin when he was 27 and she was thirteen."

"You don't like Poe?"

"Never liked him much when we studied him in school. Not gonna lie, The Fall of the House of Usher gave me nightmares for three nights. I kept having dreams I was buried alive."

Brian laughed. "So I'm guessing dark isn't for you. Is My Little Pony more your style?"

Elsa playfully punched him on the arm and giggled.

Erin went up to Chloe, who hadn't spoken a single word since she decided to stay in the library. "Hey, I know this seems bad, but believe me, it's better than being out there."

Chloe just nodded her head.

"Are you alright?"

Chloe sighed. "My cousin's out there." Silence fell between the pair before she continued. "I tried to tell him what you told me, but he didn't listen and left with them. He left me here by myself."

"No, you're not by yourself. You have all of us and we're going to get through this. We just have to wait it out as long as we can."

"Thanks for trying so hard to convince me to stay. I didn't want to, but then I knew that my chances here were better just because you three were trying so hard to get everyone to stay. I knew that boy, Sam, wasn't lying."

"He's not, I promise you that. If his father said it, it's true."

When they finally had brought enough books into the parlor, Erin crashed down next to J.D. "I'm exhausted, but I can't find it in me to sleep. All I can keep thinking about is those poor people outside who don't stand a chance against the storm."

"We tried our hardest. They're going to learn the hard way that Sam was right."

Erin rubbed her hands together and stared into the fire, the warmth of it making her even drowsier.

"Just rest your eyes for a few minutes. You look like you're going to pass out."

Erin smiled and laid down on the couch in the parlor and soon fell right to sleep.


	6. Romance in the Storm

It was pretty dark when Erin awoke, and pretty much everyone was asleep. It was colder, and she didn't have a blanket on like the others. Her hat and gloves only did so much for her. Erin just lay on the couch looking up at the ceiling, her mind constantly drifting over to thoughts about her family.

"Hey," she heard. She turned her head to see Sam sitting next to the couch.

"Couldn't sleep either?"

"No. I can't stop thinking about my family. How they're doing. If they're even still alive."

"I understand."

"You really think your dad's coming to get us?"

"Yeah, I do. He's never failed me before. He may have come close several times, and he didn't always do what I wanted, but whenever I really needed him, he never failed." Erin didn't respond. "You know, I can see the way you look at J.D."

"What?"

"He's been flirting with you ever since the night we stayed at his apartment."

Erin smiled. At least she wasn't imagining it.

"Why don't you tell him you feel the same way?"

Erin paused. There was no way she was telling Sam that the reason she didn't was because of how she felt about him, especially after even J.D. told him to go for it with Laura. "Well, the truth is I'm in love with someone else. And I'm not sure if I'm ready to move on yet."

"Are you sure you're still in love with him, or are you using that as an excuse to not admit your true feelings?"

Erin's train of thought came to a screeching halt. Was he right? Was that really what she was doing?

* * *

><p>The sun slowly rose over another day of trying to keep warm and stay alive. Their food was already running low and the storm hadn't even come close to stopping. Everyone huddled under blankets and anything else they could cover themselves with as the temperature dropped more and more.<p>

Erin wasn't going to lie that she was extremely bored. There was nothing to do but keep warm and talk. And there was only so much to say.

Chloe had secluded herself the entire time they were there, only thinking about her cousin. Erin sat down next to her. "I know you're worried about your cousin, but you need to eat something or else you'll have stayed in the library for nothing."

Chloe didn't respond.

"Why don't you tell me about him? Or some funny memories you have with him?"

Chloe smiled at her attempts to cheer her up. "Emmett's got black hair like mine, and he's pretty tall, maybe 5'9". He's as stubborn as they come, always trying to get his own way. But we always look out for each other in the end. One time, he managed to convince me that there were monsters in our neighbor's house. For the longest time, the thought made me stay as far away from there as I could. When I finally realized he had been lying, I went over to the house myself to prove him wrong. I learned that there was an old couple there who didn't like the neighborhood and weren't very nice to people who came by. I realized he was just trying to protect from them by giving me a reason to stay away."

The two of them talked about Emmett for a while, and Erin noticed that Chloe was slowly beginning to bring down the walls she had built up after she and her cousin got separated.

When Erin went to go get some more books per Sam's request, she looked out the window and saw a lone soul wandering around in the snow. She was about to go get Sam or J.D., but was afraid that when she came back the person would be gone.

Erin raced out to the front of the library, the snow significantly higher than the last time they had been here. Pulling her coat and scarf up, she ran across the snow as fast as she could, trying to spot the person she had seen before.

"HELLO?!" she screamed to the white scenery. "Is anyone out here?! You have to get inside!"

Erin listened and could just barely hear a boy's voice. She scanned her surroundings but everything looked the same and the brightness was making her eyes hurt.

"Keep following my voice! I'm over here! You need to find me so we can get inside!"

It took a while, but Erin finally saw the boy's figure and called to him. He spotted her and began slowly walking over to her.

"You look like ice. Hurry, get inside before it's too late. We have a fire going and a little bit of food."

The boy nodded and followed her inside.

"SAM!" Erin screamed once they were in the library. "HELP!"

Sam came running out and though he was surprised by the appearance of another person, he wasted no time in getting him to the fire. The boy took his hood down and pulled his scarf off, revealing a head full of lush black hair.

"Thanks," he said to Erin.

"No prob."

When they all made it back into the parlor, Erin saw Chloe look at the stranger and her eyes widened. "Emmett?"

"Hey, Chlo."

Chloe bolted up and ran to her cousin and hugged him so tightly, she almost knocked him over. Her hand rubbed his hair as he tightly hugged her torso. Neither of them released for a very long time.

"I'm so sorry, Chloe. I realized how stupid I was being about five minutes after I left. I tried to convince other people in the group to turn around and head back to the safety of the library, but no one listened. I didn't want to try to find my way back by myself, until I realized that I was going to die if I kept moving forward. If I turned back, I would either get lost and die, or I might find the library before I froze. Either way, turning back was the better option, though no one else saw it that way. But I knew you were more important to me, and I couldn't lose you."

They hugged each other again and Erin smiled at the reunion, hoping she would have one of her own once the storm blew over.

Erin shivered, even underneath the several layers she was wearing. The temperature had finally leveled off, but that didn't mean it was warm. When she had wanted to come to New York, this had not been what she wished would happen while here.

When nighttime fell, Erin went over to sleep on the floor by the fire. Laura kept coughing, but Erin was too exhausted to realize that wasn't normal. She was only asleep for an hour or two before she could quietly hear Sam and Laura talking to each other. She quietly turned to look at them, prepared to close her eyes fast if they noticed she was watching.

After months of crushing on her, Sam told Laura how he felt about her, but not using his words exactly. And then they kissed.

Erin expected to feel crushed, but she was surprised to find that it didn't hurt her very much to see them kissing. Maybe Sam was right.

After Sam and Laura had fallen asleep, Erin was still wide awake, replaying that kiss in her mind, waiting for the pain to hit her, but it never did.

"Do you ever sleep?" she heard J.D. ask as he sat across from her.

Erin let out a small laugh. "I was never one to sleep easily. My mind is always zipping from one thought to the next, never calming down enough for me to doze off for long."

"You saw that kiss too, huh?"

"You were awake for that?"

"I'm a light sleeper, and I've learned that Sam can't talk quietly."

Erin laughed again. "Yeah, I saw it."

"Did it hurt you as much as you thought it would?"

"What?"

"Erin, it's obvious that you really like Sam. Right when I saw how you interacted with him during the first round of the decathlon, I knew you liked him. You're always really shy around him, you had a hopeful look on your face when you approached him at the dinner, you jumped in after him downstairs putting yourself at risk, not to mention you get this weird look on your face whenever he and Laura are together, like you want to punch someone in the face."

Erin sighed. No wonder Sam didn't like her if she was really that obvious about her crush. "How are you so good at figuring me out? First, you figure out I'm afraid of thunderstorms, then you could tell I was really scared when we were trying to get to the library, and now you've figured out I like Sam."

"I take the time to figure you out."

Erin couldn't respond to his gentle tone. He really cared about her. "He was just always so nice to me ever since I met him. He was different from any other guy I'd ever talked to. I came to lunch one day and decided that instead of eating my food, I was going to wear it. I ran to the bathroom to clean up, but it was useless. When I came out, there was Sam holding this really tacky guy shirt. He held it out for me, and we just became friends. The more I talked to him, the more my feelings developed. The day I gathered up the courage to ask him out on a date was the same day he decided to tell me he had feelings for Laura."

J.D. grimaced, only imagining how awkward that must've been for her.

"Yeah," Erin laughed. "Bad timing on both our parts. I've tried to get over him, or see if I could get him to like me, but we can see how that turned out." She looked over at Sam, sleeping on the chair with Laura.

"Well, if you keep focusing on what you wanted with him, you may never see what's right in front of you."

Erin turned her gaze back at J.D. "What?"

J.D. took her chin and gently leaned her closer to him until the gap was closed. Erin's lips danced over his in a tender kiss. It was a thousand times better than anything she had ever imagined with Sam.


	7. Eye of the Storm

"Guys!"

Erin's eyes bolted open at the sound of Sam's panicked voice. She realized that she was lying on J.D.'s chest and his arm was wrapped around her. She smiled as she recalled the events of last night.

Everyone was huddled around Laura and no one looked happy.

"She only had a fever last night. I don't understand," Sam said.

"She's so pale," Elsa remarked.

"Well, none of us have anything real to eat in days," Aaron stated, which was true, but didn't seem like the reason Laura was unconscious.

"I'm telling you it's hypothermia," Jeremy stated, but that didn't seem real either since fevers didn't usually accompany hypothermia.

Erin knelt down next to Laura and gently rubbed her face and hair. "Laura?" she said softly. Her face looked pained, like she was having a really bad nightmare. "Wake up."

"Maybe it's just the flu," Brian said.

"No, no it's not the flu," Judith interrupted.

All eyes went to her. "Yeah? And how do you know?" Brian asked.

"Books can be good for something other than burning," she replied sharply. They went over her symptoms and Judith quickly came to a conclusion. Elsa told them that she was complaining of a cut on her leg and when they revealed her pale leg, a huge red cut about an inch long sat there, obviously severely infected.

"That's blood poisoning," Judith stated. "Septicemia. She could go into septic shock. She needs a massive dose of penicillin or a broad-spectrum antibiotic immediately, or—"

Judith didn't finish her sentence which told them all they needed to know. If she didn't get medicine, she was going to die.

* * *

><p>Sam wasted no time and started hacking up a couple chairs to make snowshoes. He was determined to go to the ship and find the medicine that Laura needed.<p>

"I thought you said it was too dangerous to go outside," Jeremy said.

"I know I did," Sam said, but his tone told everyone that he had to do this.

Brian went to the window then turned back to Sam. "Where'd you find those chairs?"

"Why?"

"I'm going with you."

"Me too," J.D. said.

"And so am I," Erin added. That was of course met with all kinds of disapproval, but she had been expecting that. "Look, I'm going whether you want me to or not so if you want to waste time arguing, go ahead, but I'm coming with you."

Laura was fading fast, and they couldn't spend another second talking about it, so they reluctantly let her come along.

"Brian!" Elsa called as he was leaving the library. She quickly pressed her lips to his firmly and then ran back to the parlor.

"Come on, Romeo," Erin said as she pulled him along.

The four of them quickly began the trek through the snow to the ship. The storm had gotten even worse and they could barely see each other. J.D. kept a firm grip on Erin's hand, not willing to lose her, especially after last night.

They finally made it to the ship and tried to go quick since they knew they didn't have very long at all. They split up and searched all the rooms, looking for where they stored the medicine. Sam finally found the Red Cross on the door, but to his dismay the door was locked and wouldn't budge as much as the guys banged on it.

Erin pushed in front of them and took a hairpin out of her hair that had stayed in thanks to her hat. She used the pin to unlock the door and they were in.

The four of them rushed around the room, trying to find what Laura needed. There was a huge problem though.

"It's all in Russian," J.D. said.

"Hey, guys, I found it!" Brian exclaimed.

"What? How do you know?" Sam asked.

"Because it says 'penicillin' on the bottom."

They grabbed the vial and a couple needles and prepared to head back to the library. Erin froze. "Did you guys hear that?"

"Hear what?" J.D. asked.

"It sounded like…a growl."

"It's nothing. Come on. We gotta go." He put his arm around her shoulders and they were almost out when they passed another room.

"Hey, wait, this is the mess hall," Brian told them. "We should find some food while we're here."

"We don't have time!" Sam argued.

"None of us are going to survive without food," J.D. said. "Including Laura."

At that, Sam relented and allowed them to get some food. They found a ton of food they could use, and after Brian nearly had a heart attack, found a float they could use to carry it all.

Erin's stomach flipped as they heard several snarls and turned to find at least five wolves standing in the doorway. The group tried to run to the next room, but one of the wolves latched itself onto J.D.'s leg. He cried out in pain as Sam hit the wolf on the head with his flashlight and it finally let go as Brian and Erin pulled him into the room.

"My leg," J.D. groaned.

Erin clutched onto him tightly as Sam wrapped his scarf tightly around his leg to stop the bleeding. "It's okay," she whispered, kissing his temple. "Just breathe." If she knew one thing, it was that pain often made one stop breathing because it hurt so much. "Hey, hey, look at me." J.D. met her eyes and she helped him slowly breathe in and out so he wouldn't end up passing out.

Sam opened up the window. "You guys, I think we're in the eye of it. We gotta get back right now."

Erin didn't like his tone. Then it hit her. He said people were going to freeze to death. Once in the eye of the storm, the next part was worse. It didn't take a genius to figure out what was going to happen if they didn't make it back to the library before they got out of the eye.

"I'm going to go outside, and I'm gonna lure the wolves out of the room. When they leave, you lock the door." He grabbed a butcher knife and exited the room.

Erin clutched onto J.D. tightly, scared out of her mind, but not regretting her decision to come at all. They watched the wolves and heard Sam screaming before they took off after him.

Erin had J.D. put his arm around her and tried to support him as Brian locked the door. The wolves shook the door, trying to get in, and then the other door shook, but it ended up being Sam. Brian ran over and opened the door for him, thankful he was still alive.

"We have to get out of here now! Brian, get the supplies." Sam took the raft and Brian got everything they needed.

Because J.D. couldn't walk, Brian, Sam, and Erin put him in the raft along with the food and medicine and the three of them pulled the raft as fast as they could back to the library.

Sam paused and they looked at the buildings. They watched in horror as they quickly began to ice over at an alarming rate.

"Let's go!" Sam screamed. "Pull, guys! Pull!"

They began to pull faster as adrenaline started coursing through them. Erin's heart was about to leap out of her chest. Once they got in, Brian took the supplies and ran to the parlor. Sam and Erin took J.D.'s arms to support him and the three of them ran to the parlor, the ice catching up to them fast.

J.D. was screaming from the pain and it hurt Erin to hear him in such agony. But she couldn't stop until they were safely in the parlor.

"Hang on!" she screamed to him.

The ice was gaining on them, trying its best to catch up with them in the deadly race.

"Almost there!" Sam screamed. "Brian, close the door!"

They sprinted into the parlor and Brian jumped up and slammed the door shut. It quickly began to ice over just like everything else.

"Don't let the fire go out!" Sam screamed as he flung everything he could find into the fire.

"What's happening?" Judith asked.

They looked around as the walls and the door iced over, threatening to consume the entire room and everyone in it if the fire went out.

"More books! More books!" Sam ordered.

They all threw as many books as they could into the fire, refusing to let the ice win.

* * *

><p>When the ice had finally stopped, the medicine was given to Laura and J.D. was tended to.<p>

As they bandaged up his leg, he kept screaming in pain, and Sam demanded Erin to give him a distraction. So she did the only thing she could think of. She pulled him close and pressed her lips to his and kissed him passionately. She didn't release until he was all bandaged up.

"That works," Sam said.

Erin smiled and J.D. pulled her close to him.

It was another day or two before everyone was sleeping and Erin awoke to Sam saying, "My father."

She and J.D. were huddled closely together to keep warm and to have Erin be there if the pain got intense.

Sam stood up and went over to him. "You made it." Father and son embraced tightly, just like Chloe and Emmett had.

"Of course I did."

They were saved.

Sam's father, Jack, instructed them all to start walking so they could get to a point where the helicopters could find them.

Soon, the sweet sound of a helicopter flew over them and landed in front of the large group. The overwhelming relief of finally being saved brought tears to Erin's eyes. J.D. hugged her and pressed his warm lips to hers as they all began to board the helicopter.

Sam held Laura, Emmett held Chloe, J.D. held Erin, Brian held Elsa, Jeremy held Judith, and Aaron held his dog, Buddha.

As they flew over the city, Erin looked out the window and saw a sight that filled her to the brim with happiness. "J.D.," she whispered. They all looked out the window and saw hundreds of people on various rooftops, evidently having stayed put and survived the storm and the destruction the eye brought. Everyone in the helicopter smiled at each other as they realized they were not the only ones.

Erin rested her head on J.D.'s shoulder and he wrapped his arm around her protectively. Laura did the same with Sam, and this time, Erin truly felt nothing. She was genuinely happy for the both of them.

This had been the worst experience of her life. She was scarred by the whole thing, and she knew it was going to take a while before she truly felt okay again. But she had no doubt that all of these people that had fought through it were going to help each other as they attempted to get through the emotional trauma of it all.

These people. Sam, Laura, Brian, J.D, Jeremy, Judith, Elsa, Chloe, Emmett, and Aaron. She couldn't have asked for a better group to help her beat the odds.


End file.
